ASIA BEIJING DESTINATIONS


The gateway to China


Ancient and modern sit side by side in fascinating Beijing


@JoBooth_travel W


andering through throngs of smartphone camera-


wielding tourists snapping selfies beneath the swooping pagoda roofs of Beijing’s Forbidden City gives you a taste of the city’s most noticeable characteristics in one bite: ancient history, cutting-edge technology and huge crowds. Although flights to other Chinese cities are opening up – notably British Airways’


connection to Chengdu – most visitors fly into Beijing or Shanghai, and the cities have often been set against one another to highlight their differences. Shanghai has been sold as business-focused, futuristic and forward-thinking, Beijing as historic and more traditionally Chinese. But as the whole nation changes at lightning speed, these differences grow ever-less based


in fact. Beijing retains its rich seam of historic sights, but I’d defy anyone to drive past the Olympic Park or through the CBD and not feel the heartbeat of modern China among its towering skyscrapers – including the gravity-defying CCTV tower – and vast fashion brand outlets that dwarf those in London or New York. It’s worth booking clients a good few nights in the city so they can experience this


energy and sophistication before heading off to China’s other must-visit attractions.


w WHAT TO SEE The big sight, on every level, is the Forbidden City. This vast imperial palace complex – 980 buildings fill a site the size of 90 football pitches in the very centre of Beijing – was the hub of power from the Ming to the Qing dynasties or, as we’d


18 February 2016 travelweekly.co.uk 53


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72